State Help Being Sought For Airport Expansion

Lake In The Hills Says Plan Pushes Safety

October 14, 1999|By Tim Kane. Special to the Tribune.

About $3.1 million would be needed in the year 2001 to pay off a debt on the Lake in the Hills Airport and buy up adjacent property to expand the airport, according to a plan drawn up by Springfield-based Hanson Engineers.

Village officials are hoping to persuade the Illinois Department of Transportation's Division of Aeronautics to approve state grants to pay for at least half of the work on the village-owned airport. Over a four-year period, the work would amount to more than $10 million.

The plan, which would increase safety by moving the taxiway farther from the airport's sole runway, should be eligible for money from the state's Transportation Improvement Proposals program, village officials said.

Village President Scott Berg and Roger H. Barcus, director of airport services for Hanson, will travel to Springfield for a meeting Monday with IDOT officials. Barcus, the former chief of IDOT's aeronautics division, is expected to take the lead in the village's quest for grant money.

Berg said he is sure the plan for airport safety improvements will get support from trustees at the regular meeting of the Village Board Thursday.

The village still owes $842,250 for the 28-acre airport that it acquired about a decade ago. The village would have to make a balloon payment to Material Services for what it owes on the airport before it could receive the title to it, according to village officials.

In addition, more than $1 million would be paid to Material Services for the purchase of 32 acres around the airport. About 42 acres at each end of the airport would be designated as cone-shaped aviation easements, which the village would control, according to Ronald Hudson, project manager for Hanson.

"It would allow Lake in the Hills to trim trees that might obstruct flight on the easements and allow the airplanes to use the air space over it," Hudson told village officials last week.

Hanson's plan also shows about $1.1 million being spent in 2002 to rehabilitate hangars, repave aprons and install perimeter fencing.

About $1.3 million spent in 2003 would cover the installation of lighted wind cones, a rotating beacon, the demolition of an existing terminal and the purchase of 22 acres from Material Services on which more hangars would be constructed.

About $5 million would be spent in 2004 on the 22-acre parcel acquired the year before. The money would prepare the site for the construction of additional hangars. The state, according to Hudson, could fund about 80 percent of that project.

Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley said he will be on hand Monday when Lake in the Hills makes its pitch to IDOT. Shepley said he will be accompanied by City Manager Joe Misurelli and perhaps Crystal Lake Councilman Howie Christensen, an airline pilot, who would lend his expertise.

Shepley said he doesn't know whether he'll support Lake in the Hills' plan and is sure Crystal Lake can block any expansion if need be.

"They have to satisfy us," Shepley said. "IDOT wouldn't step between two communities if they disagree. No issue will get by us. We still want to know about their plans to lengthen the runway. What happened to that?"

Lengthening the runway has become a delicate subject. A plan unveiled in July at the village's Airport Advisory Board showed the facility's runway 500 feet longer, the pavement added to the east end, and a section of Pyott Road moved 1,400 feet to the east.

Lake in the Hills Trustee Bob Spooner said a plan for a longer runway will not be proposed for five to 10 years.

Trustee Mike Meyer said a longer runway is unlikely and pointed to a referendum two years ago in which Lake in the Hills residents opposed expansion by a 4-1 ratio.

"A longer runway will never happen," Meyer said. "I'd never vote for it."